Page 59 of I Summon the Sea

The fae nobles move; the world slides.

Just a few feet away from me, I see Jai getting up, his dark head bowed, but when I try to do the same, getting onto my knees, my legs go out from under me, and my sight darkens.

The snake venom, I think. Or is it the poison from the mist? I’m still dying. Will the healers help me? Will anyone help me? Did Jai tell the truth about the trials’ aftermath, and will I eventually see the king and fulfill my mission?

The questions buzz inside my head as the darkness lingers. I’m jostled, and my stomach revolts. I puke my guts out, and someone curses. I think of the disgusted faces of the fae nobles watching us, and I almost laugh.

Giving the best first impressions at the fae king’s sacred palace.

Someone yells, and the sound is loud enough to pierce the buzzing in my head. It looks like I’ve annoyed them. These are the people who have organized these games, who have thought up inventive ways to kill us.

I wish I could puke some more on their silken shoes and robes.

But I’m senseless for a long while, or so it feels, the darkness swallowing me, keeping me floating in a place where time stands still.

I rise from the dark a few times to find someone sitting on a stool by the bed, dark hair falling into dark eyes, but the moments of clarity don’t last.

My leg burns.

My arm aches.

My feet throb.

My heart labors.

The ceiling swims and sinks, letting me fall back into the pit of the waves.

Voices echo inside my skull. Laughter. A whisper.

“She’s looking better,” a female voice is saying. “Poor thing. Barely survived the arena and the finnfolk.”

“That venom isn’t finnfolk venom. It’s from earth snakes.”

“I know that. But have you ever wondered if they are walking among us without us knowing? Finnfolk. We’re hanging over the sea, for all the gods’ sakes, close to the Pillar, and finnfolk have their magic. What if they can change their appearance? Pretend to be us?”

“They can shift, but they can’t hide their magic,” the other female says. “Their voice gives them away. Even if they shifted forms to look like us, we’d realize because the dragonbone relics would tell us. And the telchins would definitely know.”

“There is a way for merfolk to hide their magic,” a male voice says, “the only way, and that’s to not let their fishskin touch them, for it contains their soul, as you know. Their sea-soul.”

“No, that’s a sylkie thing,” she scoffs. “Only a great spell can conceal such magic. A layered spell. The Great Queen of the Sea can perform such spells, but at great cost.”

Great cost,I think. That’s right, though they have no idea… No clue how painful it was and how the spell betrayed me, keeping ahold of me when I most needed to shed it.

The voices fade away, and I tumble back into my mind. I see Mars, I see my parents, my brother, I see our home—the forests, the town, the river shore. I see the waves and the hungry maws lurking inside.

Dream or reality?

The more time passes, the more confusion I feel. I’m hot, I’m cold. I feel as if a spike is driving through my head. Something cool rests on my forehead. More blankets are heaped on top of me. Cool, bitter liquid is poured between my lips, and when I choke, I’m turned on my side to cough it out.

My body shudders. My legs burn with pinpricks of pain. My arms throb.

An eternity passes.

When I finally open my eyes and they remain open, when my heart has found a steady rhythm once more and the fire in my leg has abated, there he is.

The man sitting by my bed.

I hadn’t dreamed it.

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